US House considers three bills limiting offshore drilling

According to Reuters, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to exclude offshore oil and gas drilling off Florida. The bill is the first among the three that were passed on Wednesday, September 11.

The bill that was passed could also ban drilling operations off the Pacific coast and in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.

The bill, issued by Representative Francis Rooney, a conservative Florida Republican who supports action to tackle climate change, is to officially ban oil and gas operations in parts of the Gulf of Mexico that are in close proximity to his state's coast.

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Moreover, the bill passed 248 to 180, gaining the support of 20 Republicans. The bills were not to gain traction in the Republican-led Senate; However, the Democratic representatives wanted to send a signal to the Republicans, who in the past have been in favour of the rollbacks in the oil and gas regulations.

In the meantime, some of the Democratic lawmakers aim to change some of President Trump's energy policies, as the President has stated his opinion on opening up oil and gas production, while he has also weakened regulations on methane emissions from oil and gas operations and carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles.

Also, the Representatives had to pass or reject a bill sponsored by Representative Joe Cunningham, a South Carolina Democrat, to permanently ban oil and gas leasing off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

As Cunningham stated

This bill acknowledges that if we don’t act, drilling rigs could soon appear off of our beaches.

In early 2019, a group of House Democrats introduced a suite of eight bills aimed at blocking President Trump’s proposal to expand offshore oil and natural gas drilling around the country.